Endless White
by TanuKyle
Summary: Space is the final frontier, a land full of mystery and abandon. For the rookies aboard the Konoha ship 'Kohai', it's simply a job - until they find something new, something mysterious, something endless and white.  Spacefic!AU


His awareness is limited to the box. A startlingly white cube, bare save for a pile of white blankets and himself. He has long given up in trying to mark it. It simply disappears. Occasionally the door will open, the seamless join lighting up and revealing itself before a nameless scientist comes in to take blood, or run tests. At first he fought, but those days are as hazy as his once-freedom. So now, he sleeps. The lights never go off, he needs no food and therefore has no waste, so time is irrelevant, measured by the occasional scientist, or sometimes a new blanket. The second is more interesting. The scientist brings pain and discomfort, and that is simply a staple. The blanket always arrives soft and fluffy, a new patch of white. He buries it into his nest, stroking it softly, until eventually it gains the same, rough texture as the others, but he doesn't mind, because it's warm all the same.

Despite his unwareness of time, he wonders now. Usually he is woken up from his sleep – this time he has woken up himself. He doesn't remember that happening…well, ever. Ah, well. Perhaps they are testing airborne poisons again, and he has been woken up for that reason. He flicks his ears lazily, and nestles further, returning back to blissful oblivion.

When it happens a second time, he blinks, surprised. Very strange. Perhaps they are expecting him to have an emotional reaction? He almost snorts. That happened at the beginning, but not now. He buries his head again and sleeps, chests falling and rising in a cycle that is all too familiar.

The third time he ignores it, rolling over.

The fourth time is barely a few snatched seconds, where he realises that whether they are testing something or not, it's quite nice, and he should take advantage of it.

The fifth time he allows a small, hesitant smile to himself, hidden thoroughly by the blankets, and then realises what he's done and scowls. If the scientists caught that, he would have been in deep trouble.

The sixth time, he grins to himself. They obviously didn't catch it.

The seventh, he stretches and chances a smile out of the blankets.

The eighth, he smiles less hesitantly.

The ninth he makes a noise. It is a big step, to him, when every noise has been punished before.

The tenth he attempts words, and gets a garbled noise instead. He returns to sleep with an irritated growl.

He continues to sleep, and when he wakes he works on words. He doesn't remember many, admittedly.

"Stop. Monster. Kyuubi. Naruto. Demon. Freak. Blood. Test. Sample."

He works on his words over and over.

He still sleeps a lot.

But now, he is on his own, he can do what he likes. He uses the blankets to make nests. Make shapes. He forms them into vaguely remembered shapes of his mother. He practises growling and snarling and yelping and half-remembered howls and barely-remembered lullabies.

It has been many sleeps. He has almost forgotten about the door. His claws are sharp, there is hair threaded into his blankets – when it gets below his waist or if it gets tangled, or sometimes just because he feels like it, he slices it off.

But whilst he may not be conscious of the door, when it starts to open again, barely remembered glow, his body reacts instinctively – he goes silent, eyes wide, and he dives into the nest which is currently shaped in a spiralling cave. He stills himself, breathing shallow, limbs tensed. He hears muffled sounds, and footsteps. His fingertips twitch. He is in for a world of pain, he knows that. He has broken so many rules. How could he have forgotten. It was all a ruse, a test. And he has failed, he has failed so badly, and there is nothing he can do, because they will likely kill him now. But perhaps if he comes out, they may not. Perhaps if he submits?

Kiba grumbled irritably. "I don't see why we get scavenger duty." Next to him, Akamaru bumped his head against his trainer's thigh, regarding him with fond amusement.

Hinata smiled into her coat collar. "Ano, Kiba-kun, we are the team most suited to it."

Kiba grinned, mood turned around instantly. "Well, yeah! We're badass!" Akamaru's lips twitched in amusement, sharing a glance with Hinata. Shino snorted.

"What was that?"

Before it could degenerate into squabbling, Hinata intervened.

"A-ano, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun? Do you see that?"

They most likely could not in the detail she could – Hinata had far better eyesight thanks to her genetic quirks - but they might be able to see it faintly.

"Huh? I don't' see anything…but something smells odd…"

Akamaru shivered, twisting his head to the same direction.

Shino inclined his head softly. "There is an intense concentration of energy over there." His glasses fed him a continous loop of information from the sensors embedded in his body.

"It does not appear to be hostile, but it's worth investigating. I would suggest combat gear."

Hinata nodded, carefully speaking commands into her high coat collar. Kiba and Shino followed suit, and Kiba leant down to adjust Akamaru's implants.

When they approached the energy source, it was…unique to say the least. This planet was un-registered, and on the sweeps they had made, it appeared to have been abandoned or decimated – there was no traces of any life above intelligence level 2, and yet the position to the sun and resources suggested it should have created far more complex life.

However, there had been plenty of technology. Most of it was out-dated, but certain things had salvageable and useful parts. They were on the final sector, and also the sector which had created strange readings. They had been sent to investigate. This was unexpected however.

Shino ran diagnostics.

"It is far beyond the other technologies on the planet. It appears to be a lockbox of some kind. It is possible it is a storage container, but as it is unregistered, I presume it is unlawful. We are in our rights to use it as salvage, but it would be difficult to transport as is. I would suggest opening it."

Kiba grinned wolfishly. " I call dibs on treasure."

Shino tapped lightly on the opening spot, a light shining briefly, creating a doorway. Stepping through, the trio found themselves in a bright white cube. Kiba and Hinata winced in unison, their eyes narrowing to slits.

"Owch…what's with the lights?" His voice was a whisper. Something was wrong here. There was nothing visible except well..white. A flash of movement caught their eyes, even squinting. Following the movement, their attention was turned to what looked like a pile of well-worn blankets, interspersed with blond hair, long strands of it.

Something was definitely wrong. Almost unconsciously, they drew closer together, conversing in whispers, alert and in battle stances.

"….Shino, would it be possi-"

"No. The cube is completely isolated. A cyborg would be possible however, but there are no electrical readings."

The boys discussed in whispers, but were interrupted by Hinata's gasp.

In front of them, emerging from the pile of blankets, was what was unmistakably some kind of creature.

He knew he had to be careful about this. He had to be the perfect subject. And so he crawled out, eyes dull. He kept his expression slack, a perfect subject. Emotionless, expressionless. He was not worth anything. He only existed on a whim.

He approached the new scientists. It wasn't as if he paid attention to what they looked like usually, but these scientists smelled so radically different from anything he had ever smelt before that it was obvious they were new. Or perhaps they were trying scent-synthesizers again. But usually they did scents for a reason, to provoke a reaction. This didn't smell like anything he knew, or even his instincts knew.

He kept on all fours. He was not to pretend he was above his station. Pressing himself as low to the ground as possible, he waited for the inevitable pain. He tried, but it was hard to stop his body from trembling. He knew it was going to hurt when it came.

The expression of shock would have been almost comical, had anybody been around to see it. Eventually, after a few moments, jaws snapped shut and brains kicked back in.

"….Shino?" Kiba, completely stunned, turned to the resident tech whiz for an explanation.

Shino only shook his head. "It…should not be possible."

Akamaru whined softly. His trainer was agitated, and the pack-mates were too, even the usually solemn one. He turned to look at whatever was agitating them. It looked like Kiba. Different coloration though. But more like Kiba than the others. Claws, pointed ears, and Akamaru was sure that if he looked, the boy would have slitted pupils. Smaller though. Much, much smaller.

His ear flicked softly. He didn't know what they were saying, but he still had to be a good subject, still and quiet until they gave him something definite to work on. Shouts and orders he vaguely knew, or could deduce from watching.

When Akamaru whined, he whined back, a reflex action, like a puppy repeating something in sympathy. Then he froze, gradually tilting his head to observe them.

They…..they didn't look like scientists at ALL! He whined again, confused, and noticed the dog, who was staring at him now. The not-scientists looked at him too. The one who smelled like the dog other than the dog – previously he had assumed that the slightly-dog scent and the dog-scent were synthesised, but now it looked like an actual smell? Did that mean that the outside smell was real too? Whether or not that was true, they definitely weren't scientists, so he gave into instincts, chewing his bottom lip and running in a small circle around them, observing them.

When the creature had whined back at Akamaru, Kiba started. He _knew_ that whine. That was a whine he _understood._ But he definitely wasn't an Inuzuka. His coloration was all wrong, and no Inuzuka could survive in this place without food or water or company or fresh air. It was a puppy-whine, but deeper in timbre, a childish plea for attention that sounded wrong, because from what he could tell, this was definitely not a child.

The next whine was puppy-speak again, and the actions were trademark canine. Casting a glance that spoke volumes to his partners, Kiba squatted to his haunches and stuck a hand out, making small noises, yips and reassuring chuffs of air that he would use for skittish puppies. The creature, who seemed to have the usual base-form of bipeds at least, came closer, blue eyes fixed on Kiba's hand. Eventually the boy (Kiba was sick of calling it a creature) bumped his nose softly against Kiba's fingers, hesitantly darting out a pink tongue to lick them. Kiba very slowly scratched under his chin. The boy had frozen initially, eyes dulling into non-intelligence, and he was trembling, but when Kiba did nothing but scratch his ears and pet his hair softly, he returned from whatever state he was in, hesitantly butting his head into Kiba's comfort. Judging it safe, Kiba posed a question.

'Whatyou-wherepack?'

And the boy looked at him with confused blue eyes, and Kiba held back a growl at his response, not at the boy but for whatever situation he had been in.

'pack?' 'pack.' 'pack.'

The not-scientist could speak! This was AMAZING. But what if it was a trick? Cautiously, he moved forward, reassured by the soft voice, growling timbre. Strong alpha.

'safe-okay-close-warm-safe-' soft, reassuring noises.

He darted back once or twice before returning, curiosity and longing winning out over nerves. He bumped his nose against the dark fingers, sniffing the scents that they had, and then licking them, a soft nibble-groom to say hello. Even so, when his fingers moved to under his chin, he froze, dulling his eyes instinctively, mouth pressing shut. But when they didn't move to force his jaw open, to pluck out his teeth or swab from him roughly, but instead to rub at that spot behind his ears that he sometimes stroked when he was pretending he had a mother, and petted him, he relaxed. He even butted against the fingers when they reached a particularly good spot.

The not-scientist asked a question, grunt-whine familiar and then not.

Repeating the unfamiliar segment, he adjusted to what the other seemed to mean.

'pack?' 'pack.' 'pack.'

It was a group, that was it. alphas betas, pups. He had never had a pack…was he offering?

'pack-you-beta-female-bugsmell?'

'pack-yes-where-you'

'cube-always'

And suddenly it occurred to him that the scientists might have trapped them too! That would be terrible! He was a good subject, he understood, but this pack wouldn't understand anything! They might die! He cut the other off suddenly, barking and growling.

'out-quick-run-go-run-flee-danger-predator-needles-sharp-pain-blood-hurt-run!'

Snapping and growling, he danced back and forth as the alpha looked at him in incomprehension. He whined, running in another agitated circle, and staring at him straight in the eyes, he 'reached'.

Kiba's eyes were prickling slightly. Here? Always? With the blinding white, and was that scraggy pile of blankets and hair all he had? It looked like it, god, it sounded like it, he communicated like a child. But before he had a chance to question further the boy suddenly freaked out, growling and snarling and snapping, telling him to run. What? Hinata and Shino tensed.

"He's freaked. Something about – danger, needles? Blood?" Kiba frowned, looking at the boy.

"What are you ta-" And he stopped, because he could have sworn those eyes were blue before, but now they are red, a shining red that is drawing him in, and images are flashing across his brain. Scientists in coats, sticking needles, drawing blood. Of having to be quiet and still, and pain, oh fucking hell how had the kid survived that amount of pain, – of wagging his bum to the scientists who would trade one kind of pain for the other, and would treat you afterwards with less pain and perhaps a new blanket.

And despite Kiba trying to stop himself, he is crying, silent tears, and he is drawing the kid into his lap, and rocking him back and forwards. The kid is licking at his face, and he is panicked – Kiba vaguely registers the fact that he is worried he has hurt Kiba, and a choking laugh escapes the sobs – and he tries to smile and the kid looks so pathetically grateful that he laughs again.

Akamaru whines. He only caught the tail-end of the images, but they are still disturbing enough. Kiba's pack-mates are looking worried, angry. This is abnormal behaviour. He nips his pack-brother softly, then firmly when he doesn't respond. Kiba releases the pup in his arms, and stands up. Rubbing his face on a rough sleeve, he shakily grins.

Shino speaks first, obviously disturbed, his tone guarded.

"Kiba?"

Hinata follows closely behind.

"Kiba, what happened?"

Running a shaky hand through his hair, he replies.

"Fuck if I know. He did this….this thing with his eyes, and showed me images….no, memories. Fuck….shit. We can't leave him here. The stuff he's had done to him-" Kiba gulps, eyes wide and he is shaking like a leaf, and Hinata recognizes shock when she sees it.

"We need to get Kiba back to the ship." Her words are low, directed at Shino. It is doubtful that Kiba will take it in anyway, but it is best not to agitate him further. As the practicing medic, it will be her head Sakura goes for if he comes back injured.

Shino nods, troubled behind his collar and goggles, slight tensing that Hinata has learned to read means he is upset.

A slight blue tinge begins to corrupt the white of the room. The boy who has upset Kiba so freezes up, beginning that horrendous cacophony of snarls and growls and whines again. They have, by now, deduced that something must come through that door that is bad. Despite all knowledge they have saying that can't happen – the planet is trashed, their hands stray to weapons anyway. Their knowledge has led them astray many times already today. As the blue brightens, the boy howls fearfully, darting back into that nest of blankets and his own hair. Akamaru settles himself between the door and the den, his hackles raised.


End file.
